1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of the machinery that is used in agricultural tasks such as bulk material collection, and more particularly the invention is related to the devices used for the collection and unloading of bulk material, such as grains, seeds, agricultural feed that has been previously stored in silage bags.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To better understand the object and scope of the present invention it is convenient to describe the current state of the art in reference to the devices and machines that are used for the collection of bulk material stored in silage bags.
Currently, the use of big and long silage bags with a great capacity for the storage of bulk materials, such as seeds, grains, agricultural feed and similar materials, generally of organic origin, that need protection from atmospheric conditions and insect or animal attacks that compromise their conservation and/or want to feed of the material that is contained in said bags, is widely and commonly known.
In that sense, generally in the field of agricultural exploitation, the produce of the harvest season is often stored in large, resistant bags made from adequate material, that are gradually stuffed with the bulk material that needs to be stored using adequate machinery known as bag stuffers. This task allows for long rows of bags to be arranged that contain the material, waiting to be extracted when it is needed, for usage as well as for transportation.
Therefore, at the moment of gathering the bulk material, such as for example grains for food produce or another type of bulk material such as seeds or agricultural feed among other possibilities, the great volumes, size and lengths that are part of this job and the distribution of the bag on the ground render imperative the availability of adequate machinery for the collection of said grains, seeds, agricultural feed and the like, as it is not possible to open a gate valve already installed in situ as in metallic and concrete silos, that are preferably elevated installations.
Currently there is a variety of machineries designed for the extraction of bulk material that is contained in silage bags for storage, many of which make a gash at the top and continue to open the bag gradually while endless sweepers work on the inside of the bag to extract its contents by means of an grain auger elevation tube. While the sweepers and the grain auger advance and empty the bag, the cut bag material can remain on the ground or get rolled up by a sole big horizontal and transversal roller or spool. When the bag is empty, it is entirely rolled up on this roller and must be unrolled from it, which is a task that implies labor and a lot of time.
Developments of this kind can be observed in the documentation of patents AR031252 and AR042763 that represent the traditional collection of the bag, as described before. Different types of extractors have grain collectors that use worm gears known in the art with different adjustment options such as those described in the patent documents AR036525, AR031384, and in the patent documents AR036704 wherein the bag is even illustrated as it is trampled under the wheels of the tractor.
Nonetheless, in agreement with everything that is revealed in these patents, once the material in the bag has been completely collected, the handling of the bag becomes difficult, knowing that the residue and bulk material is rolled up with the bag, hereby increasing the total weight. Actually, during the rolling up of the complete canvas that makes up the bag on this horizontal collection shaft, humid and rotting grains are also dragged along as well as dirt from the terrain, both on the inside and outside of the bag. Keeping in mind that a typical bag used for this type of job weighs approximately 100 kilograms and has a length of 60 to 75 meters, it is important to consider the ease of handling after having collected grain in its interior.
Additionally to what has been mentioned before, it is worth noting that generally, the machinery that currently has bag rollers, it is difficult for the user to remove the spool once the grain collection job is finished.
Furthermore, those current devices that contain collectors must be configured in two ways, one for bag collection and one for the transportation of the device as it is being towed, as a result of the great length of the bag roller and its horizontal arrangement.
For that reason it would be convenient to have an apparatus to unload bulk material such as grains, that allows for easy bag handling once they are rolled up, in order to facilitate bag removal from the extractor and minimize the weight that needs to be handled on each spool.